Stocks & Shares ISAs

jicms

Thank you so much for this very detailed reply. I'll try and get my head around it. Plenty of time during lockdowns. 

jicms

I'm going for either the HSBC Global Strategy Balanced or Dynamic or the Vanguard LifeStrategy 60 or 80 (still dithering).
Silly question but do I just buy through their websites or through any financial services links?  I can't see any cashback offerings for either of them.

Alexland

It's unlikely you will ever see cashback deals for investing directly via Vanguard Investor or the HSBC Investment Centre as their platform fees are already very low at 0.15% and 0.25% pa respectively.
It tends to be the more expensive providers such as Nutmeg, L&G, etc who offer cashback as their fees are high enough to recover it back (and more) if you invest enough and stay long enough.

For larger account valuations then fixed price platforms offer best value.

2021 UPDATE: it happened with HSBC...
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6283378/hsbc-gic-100-cashback

dunstonh

Silly question but do I just buy through their websites or through any financial services links?  I can't see any cashback offerings for either of them.

You wouldn't do.   Neither need to offer gimmicks to get people to buy their investments.   There is a good reason why gimmicks get offered.

BigGirlPants

A few years ago Fidelity was q suggested black form, and also so a good way of accessing it was via Cavendish online who are now not trading, so Investments are placed directly with Fidelity.

 Is it better to change out of Fidelity now as they no longer a recommended platform?
The charges seem to be about 1.8% annually.

Thank you

grumiofoundation

BigGirlPants said:

A few years ago Fidelity was q suggested black form, and also so a good way of accessing it was via Cavendish online who are now not trading, so Investments are placed directly with Fidelity.

 Is it better to change out of Fidelity now as they no longer a recommended platform?
The charges seem to be about 1.8% annually.

Thank you

As people have commented on your other thread fidelity (or cavendish) aren't charging you 1.8%.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6246084/investment-fees-on-fidelity-isa-1-8-is-that-correct-please#latest

BigGirlPants

Yes thank you, I was just replying on the other thread.
I now have much more information than I did when I pasted the tread. 
Much appreciated

Nardge

Good Morning,

A few years ago I made my first venture onto this thread and following the useful guidance have now invested £60,000 with Vanguard Life Strategy (75% in the 80 % Equities, 25% in the 100% Equities). 

I intend to keep investing in 'global-index trackers', but recall reading that £50,000 was about the right amount to invest with the above and perhaps other platforms; as for larger amounts, cheaper platforms existed...

So, what would be best now? Assuming I keep investing my way into 6-figure digits in future, should I:

• Invest £50,000 per platform - in which instance, which ones?
• Invest up to £85,000 per platform (the FSCS-protected limited)?
• Transfer the above sum elsewhere that has fixed fee charges (rather than % fee), and build on it there?

I look forward to your thoughts,

With Kind Regards 

dunstonh

• I intend to keep investing in 'global-index trackers', but recall reading that £50,000 was about the right amount to invest with the above and perhaps other platforms, as for larger amounts, cheaper platforms existed...
  

That is someone's opinion and may or may not be a sensible one.

I look forward to your thoughts,

The FSCS limit is not a concern if you are using a well capitalised, profitable platform that is not heavy in illiquid assets.  If your platform is non-maintream or unprofitable or not well capitlised then a) you should be thinking of using an alternative full stop and not just spreading it around a bit.

A bigger risk is system failures rather than provider/platform failure.    Although most platforms now use one of three software providers.  So, spreading it around different platforms that use the same software is not really going to help on that front.  You would need to mix and match software    However, even there, the software has only been an issue to date where the platform moves from one software provider to another (usually from their in-house software to one of the professional software providers).

eskbanker

Nardge said:

A couple of years ago I made my first venture onto this thread and following the useful guidance have now invested £60,000 with Vanguard Life Strategy (75% in the 80 % Equities, 25% in the 100% Equities). 

I intend to keep investing in 'global-index trackers'....

Vanguard LifeStrategy funds aren't index trackers, although they contain them, in proportions actively decided by the fund manager.

Nardge said:

recall reading that £50,000 was about the right amount to invest with the above and perhaps other platforms, as for larger amounts, cheaper platforms existed...

So, what would be best now? Assuming I I keep investing my way into 6-figure digits in future, should I:

• Invest £50,000 per platform - in which instance, which ones?
• Invest up to £85,000 per platform (the FSCS-protected limited)?
• Transfer the above sum elsewhere that has fixed fee charges (rather than % fee), and build on it there?

There are no hard and fast rules about amounts to hold on any given platform, and the FSCS limit isn't particularly relevant, unlike when depositing cash, so there's no need to try to stick below £85K on a platform.

If you wish to assess the cheapest platform for your anticipated investing profile, plug your numbers into sites such as:

https://monevator.com/compare-the-brokers/

http://www.comparefundplatforms.com/